Thursday, November 29, 2007

Thankfulness

The week of Thanksgiving kept me pretty busy. I'm still busy. But I have been meaning to post about what I'm thankful for at this time of thanks. Better late than never, so here goes.

I am thankful to be married to the world's greatest husband -- someone who values me, gets me, cracks me up, shares my passions, and loves me... and also happens to be the best and hottest and awesomest ;) guy I've ever met.

I am thankful for my family, who I love through everything, and I am thankful we are all healthy. I am especially thankful for my mom, for everything she always does for me. I am thankful to have brothers(-in-law, or -almost-in-law) for the first time. I am thankful to live in the same city as one of my sisters. I am thankful that my family-in-law is so awesome (and I continue to be more and more thankful for this when I hear others' in-law stories :). I am thankful for being an aunt.

I am thankful to have a job that I love, including challenging work and brilliant co-workers.

I am thankful that our country still has a wealth of freedoms. I am thankful for the right to dissent publicly. I am thankful for Justice Ginsburg's dissents and Dahlia Lithwick's columns.

I am thankful for my wealth of friends. I am blessed beyond measure when it comes to friends. I am thankful for shared passions with friends. I am thankful for heated debates with friends. I am thankful my friends don't mind that I'm terrible at keeping in touch.

I am thankful (and rather surprised) that even though I rarely exercise and rarely eat well, I'm not terribly unhealthy.

I am thankful to be a homeowner and a not-falling-apart car owner. I am thankful to be financially secure.

I am thankful for television. I am thankful for books. I am thankful for football season. I am thankful for lazy Sundays at home (which I really miss these days).

I am thankful that I am emotional. I am thankful that I am happy.

Monday, November 19, 2007

The subject will come as no surprise...

I got a Letter to the Editor published. Very exciting. :)

The Post folks were really great and printed the letter almost entirely as I submitted it.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Success

Most of you know I'm away on trial right now in New Jersey. My first case as a practicing attorney. It's an exciting endeavor that I can't say much about, for obvious reasons. I can say, though, that the experience has gotten me thinking about my career quite a bit.

The thing about litigation, at least trial work, is that there is only one acceptable option. As I stare down what I hope will be a long career as a litigator, I realize that there's no way I can live up to my typical perfectionist standards. When I get to the point of second-chairing or first-chairing a trial, winning 100% of the time might not be possible. I wonder how I'll navigate that.

Well, tonight I heard a great random quote on television. "Success all the time tells you nothing except that you're very lucky." It put a smile on my face. Failing every now and then can be an advantage if you're willing to learn from it, right? Although I also subscribe to the wisdom handed down by another lawyer at my firm: "If you do your best, you will win. If you do your best and you don't win, no one could have won." A little more ego there, but I like it. :)

So I am doing my best. We'll see how my career goes. Can't wait to be back in touch with everyone once I get home!!!!

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Is Santa anti Katherine?!

Tell me if this sounds familiar:

Oh! You better watch out
You better not cry
You better not pout
I'm telling you why

Many if not all of you may know that this is the chorus to a very famous Christmas jingle. For years I had never really thought about the lyrics. But now that I am married to Katherine, I have to say I am appalled. Katherine is the world's most accomplished pouter. If you have not had the pleasure of seeing this, make sure you ask her to pout for you. It's perfect! And now it appears that Santa has a long standing vendetta against Katherine, and I for one will not stand for it.

So I'm starting a campaign to repel this onslaught of anti-pouting. I don't know exactly how I am going to do this, but I'm certain it requires me to stay up on December 24 to have a little chat with Mr. Kringle. Don't worry, I'm not going to get violent, but I do anticipate the exchange to be heated. If this causes any of you to not receive your gifts on the 25th, I apologize. But I cannot allow Santa to continue with this reckless and ill informed rhetoric. Katherine deserves better ;)

(You see, this is what this blog is reduced to when Katherine is too busy to post.)

*Legal disclaimer: All threats made or percieved to be made against Kris Kringle, or any of his many aliases, are satirical in nature, blah, blah, blah (and yes, that is a valid legal term, at least in the Unified North Pole Court System).

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Do you have good taste? I knew ya did!

If you're reading this blog, that means you have good taste. Since you have good taste, it also means you're a NY Giants fan. So me telling you that the NY Football Giants are 6-2 and playing the Dallas Cowboys this Sunday with first place in the NFC East on the line is old news... because you're a NY Giants fan. Get it, it's voodoo circular logic. Which basically means that all things center and return to the NY Giants.

Katherine probably thinks I should be saying this on my NY Giants blog. But I have given up that blog for the time being because I haven't blogged on it for quite some time and the Giants are on a 6 game winning streak. Since it has been established in the above paragraph that you all are as big a fan of the Giants as I am, you understand that my non-blogging is the sole reason for this win streak. So why wreck a good thing.

And that leads me to the point of this post. Everyone was focused on the Colts/Patriots game last week. I don't really understand why. Last time I checked, the Giants weren't playing in that game... which means it was... how should I say this... not as important as it would have been had the Giants been playing. Since the Giants will be playing one of these teams in the Super Bowl, I guess it did provide context for the inevitable matchup.

Go Giants!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Monday, November 05, 2007

Still MIA

I'm off being a lawyer, or some other nonsense.

In the mean time, here's some reading I'm sneaking in when I have a (very rare) few free seconds.

Interesting article in light of the current AG nominee. Follow the links within to take it all in.

I've read a lot of the reviews of this book, but this one has resonated with me the most. Although I'm not a fan of the picture.

The dissent in this case.

And as a twin married to a twin, this hit home a bit.